GRVNC Elections Committee

Minutes, March 13, 2004

Venice Library

 

Draft minutes taken by Tom O’Meara to be approved at next meeting, March 21

 

Present: Tom O'Meara (chair), Suzanne Thompson, Fred Dewey, Darryl Dufay, LJ Carusone, Bill Norton, Bob Niemann, Ron Nelson, Erma Darling

 

 

  1. Call To Order:
  2. Chair thanked everyone for coming, and indicated he sent out 125 invitations through the post office to notify all of the “Ds” and “Ns.” Telephone calls were also placed to about half of this number, but time constraints prevented completion.  But since all the calls went to “Ds” and half of the committee is “N,” then there is evidence to suggest that not completing the calls hurt in this case.
  3. There was a lot of free discussion by everybody about many subjects, including concerns with election issues in general especially the necessity for outreach and for getting people aware that GRVNC exists, some history of past GRVNC elections, when the committee would have to have its work finished, examples of the types of decisions that need to be made in the next 3 weeks, that the stakeholders present liked the fact that the committee is a “citizen jury” type, etc:
  4. The chair asked the others to decide if they wanted to be on the committee. All but 3 said yes.  Darryl, Fred and Bob indicated they would serve only if the purely random process were adhered to. 
  5. Chair made decision that the two with out last names starting in “D” or “N” would not be eligible to volunteer, and then certified the remaining 6 as the members of the elections committee, a sufficient number in the chair’s mind that contingencies for recruiting extra committee members could be set aside. 
  6. MOTION:  To designate Paul Ryan, GRVNC Government Relations Officer and election law specialist, as a resource to the committee.
    1. YES:  Fred, Darryl, Ron, Erma, Bob, Bill; NO: ---; ABSTAIN: Tom
  7. Free form discussion resumed about how to actually proceed with modifying the 2003 Elections Procedures.
  8. After some time, committee member Fred asked why the discussion was so loose as to include non-committee members.  The chair explained that typically, most committees in GRVNC with small attendance allow for full input by non-voters, even the Executive Committee.  However, the chair also explained the board and the LUPC have formal public comment times to facilitate getting business done.  Since any committee can decide which method to use, the chair made a motion that the issue be resolved with a vote. 
  9. MOTION: that the committee adopt the formal public comment structure of the board.
    1. YES:  Fred, Darryl, Ron, Erma, Bob, Bill; NO: ---; ABSTAIN: Tom
  10. Discussion began on the agenda for the next meeting.
    1. Invite LWV to speak for 20 minutes about specific 8 to 10 good and bad examples from other NC’s, not general comments about democracy, etc…
    2. Training for LWV about or rules
    3. Outreach for Elections
    4. Tom indicated he would list all of the major decisions from the DONE template on the agenda in order, and we would go through as many of them as we could at the next meeting.
    5. Election date
    6. Video tape of meetings
    7. Look into stenographer for minutes taking
    8.